Why the National Basketball Players Association is debuting a B2C brand

NBA players have long held massive cultural sway in the US. In the case of the 2025-26 New York Knicks, they’ll probably never pay for a drink in the city again. As a result, brands flock to the league to develop marketing campaigns featuring athletes—but oftentimes, players find themselves in the passenger seat of those agreements.

The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) wants to change that.

Starting today, the players association is rolling out its first consumer-facing commercial brand, Plyrs Untd, which is designed to give its members greater stake and control over their names, images, and likenesses in merch, content, and partnerships.

“A lot of brands are realizing they need relevance, and rather than advertise around the culture, [they want to] become integrated in the culture,” Keisha Wright, the NBPA’s SVP of partnerships, told Marketing Brew. “Advertising around the culture versus advertising in the culture through partnership and cocreation with our players, is the same as either you’re crashing the party, or you’re being invited to the party. You want to be invited.”

New lens

The NBPA announced Plyrs Untd with a campaign film called “Own the Game” that premiered Monday at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. It stars 26 NBA players, including 2026 All-Stars like Jaylen Brown, Jalen Brunson, Stephen Curry, Kawhi Leonard, Donovan Mitchell, and Karl-Anthony Towns. Narrated by Kyrie Irving over the sound of a ball bouncing, the film features black-and-white close-ups of the players in off-court moments as Irving explains their impact.

“They always loved what we brought to the game, but hated where it came from,” he says in the spot. “The way we talk, the way we dress, the way we move. When the world sees it, it becomes culture…Everyone profited from player culture except the players themselves.”

The campaign was filmed during the NBPA’s 2026 All-Star activation, Plyrs House, since many of the athletes involved were staying at the hotel where Plyrs House was set up, Wright said. It’s meant to show the breadth of the NBPA’s members, from MVPs to role players, and is in black and white to give it a “moody” and “dramatic” feel, she added.

“We’re trying to strike the balance between how you see them on the court, in bright lights and in ultra color, with who they are off the court…so you can see them as men,” Wright said.

The rollout of Plyrs Untd comes with a broader overhaul of the NBPA’s Instagram, YouTube, Threads, and TikTok handles, which are changing to @PlyrsUntd. (The X and LinkedIn accounts, though, will remain @TheNBPA.) Moving forward, the players’ association’s social content will look different, “focusing on off-court storytelling” through original content, according to the NBPA.

New approach

Content is a big part of the future of Plyrs Untd, Wright told us. One series, State of the Game, debuted in April and features NBPA execs and players in conversation about a range of topics impacting the league. There’s more content like that to come, Wright said, including a potential series tentatively called Rookie Talks spotlighting the rooks. The content will live primarily on YouTube, with shorter clips appearing on other social platforms, she said.

Merch and experiences will also be central to Plyrs Untd’s work; Plyrs House is set to continue popping up, including next at the 2026 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

These avenues come with opportunities for sponsors—but not, perhaps, in the exact ways marketers have come to expect. Brands can get involved in content, at Plyrs House events, and in the new Plyrs Untd Performance Center opening in Los Angeles in August. But players will set the terms, and they’ll likely be selective, Wright told us.

“It’s changing the partnership dynamic,” she said. “It’s no longer: Brand gives us brief, we respond.”

For fans, Wright said her team wants them to show their support right away through engaging with merch drops and experiences. In the long run, she said she hopes Plyrs Untd creates more encouragement for players to express themselves and grow their interests off the court, which can help facilitate deeper fan connections.

“There’s been pushback against guys being more than athletes and doing anything other than playing ball, and we want the opposite of that,” she said, later adding that her team is primarily looking to connect with fans who are already predisposed to hearing player stories.

“The league does a great job with those 48 minutes that they have,” she said. “We’ve got 23 hours and 12 minutes, and there’s lots of fun in those 23 hours and 12 minutes.”